A Bulwark Never Failing

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Remain standing and open your Bibles to Matthew chapter six.
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We will read only verse 13 this morning because that will be the central focus of our study.
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This comes to us in the midst of the Lord's model prayer, which is in the midst of the longer sermon on the mount that has been said the greatest sermon ever preached.
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And so we read these words by Jesus in verse 13 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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Now, I realize some of your Bibles goes on to give the doxology.
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We are going to talk about that next week, but in the pew Bibles, it simply stops with the deliver us from evil.
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So we will end our reading there and pray.
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Father, thank you for your word.
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Thank you for your truth.
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I pray that this morning.
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That as I seek to preach this important passage, that you would keep me from error, as I know that I am a fallible man, I am certainly capable of preaching error, and I pray that you would protect me from that and more so protect the church, your bride from that.
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And I pray that you would be glorified in what is said and that your word would be expounded correctly.
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And that ultimately it will be applied to our lives and we will use it to move forward towards a closer walk with Christ and closer conformity to him.
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For it is in his name we pray, Amen.
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As I noted earlier, we have been in a study of the Sermon on the Mount now for quite a many months.
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And we are in a mini series within a series, because going through the Sermon on the Mount, you find that Jesus addresses many topics in his sermon, many issues and subjects, and one of the subjects that he deals with is the subject of prayer.
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And he tells us ways that we ought not pray, that we ought not pray to be seen like the hypocrites do, that we ought not pray in vain babbling as the heathen do, but that when we pray, we ought to pray like this.
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And he gives us not a prayer simply to be memorized and repeated, for that would violate his already expressed will that we do not simply pray in vain repetition.
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But he gives us a prayer to model all prayers.
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He gives us a prayer to build a framework for all of our prayers around.
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Often it is called the Lord's Prayer, but as we've already expressed many times in this series, it is not the Lord's Prayer that he gives us, for this is not a prayer that Jesus himself would pray, but this is the prayer of Jesus for his disciples.
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This is what we ought to pray.
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This is the disciples' prayer, or what we might better call the Lord's model prayer.
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He models to us what prayer ought to be.
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It begins with that great expression of who we are in Christ.
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We are sons and daughters of God.
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So we are able to say our Father who art in heaven and then straightway from that expression of being children of God, we go right into the petitions and the petitions are broken up three toward God and three toward man.
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Hallowed be thy name.
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May your name be holy in this earth.
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Thy kingdom come.
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Thy will be done.
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That's three distinct petitions, and they're all they're all culminated in this expression on earth as it is in heaven.
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May your name be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven.
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May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
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May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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That's the expression of our plea to God in the first half of the model prayer that God's that God's focus would be our focus, that his name would be our desire, that his glory would be our passion.
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And then he moves to us.
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Give us this day our daily bread.
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Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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And we've already expressed that in those us word petitions, we see a whole of man's existence found in those short phrases.
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We find the whole of man's needs expressed in just three petitions.
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We see man's need for sustenance.
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His physical life is bound up in the prayer.
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Give us this day our daily bread.
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We see also the the need for forgiveness and forgive us our debts and our need to reconcile with others when it says, as we have forgiven those who are indebted to us, as we said, I think two weeks ago, we see all of time as well, not just all of man's need, but we see all of time for the past is dealt with in forgiveness and the present is dealt with in give us this day our daily bread.
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And today we look to the future.
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Because when we get to the last petition, what we see is a petition for the future, lead us not into temptation.
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But deliver us from evil.
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So today we're going to examine the future petition for God's protection.
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Against the flesh, the world and the devil, that's what this petition is, it is a petition of protection, God, you've forgiven us, God, you've sustained us.
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But now, as we look to the future, God protect us.
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So we will begin our exposition of the text.
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It's interesting because I've actually had many conversations about this particular passage, because a lot of folks have difficulty with the issue of lead us not into temptation, because the very the very thought of that seems as if it would contradict a universal understanding.
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That God does not lead us into evil.
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So I want to begin by explaining something about this passage that I think is often overlooked and is often overlooked in a lot of the New Testament.
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And that is this.
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Jesus was a Jew.
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Let's let that sink in for a moment.
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Jesus was a Jew.
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And why do I mention that? Well, Jesus was one who was given to Hebrew expressions and use of language.
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We see this all throughout the Gospels.
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Jesus uses idioms and things.
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And one of the things that we see in Hebrew literature are what is called parallelism.
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Parallelism is when you have two statements that are back to back, that interact with one another in some fashion as to express a truth.
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For instance, we have what is called, if you've ever read Proverbs, you know what a parallelism is, because in the Proverbs you see them all the time.
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In the Proverbs, we have what's called the synonymous parallelism.
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A synonymous parallelism is when you have two things that say the same thing twice.
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That's a synonym, right? It's the same thing.
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A synonymous parallelism.
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Let me read you one.
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A false witness will not go unpunished and he who breathes out lies will not escape.
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It's the same thing said in two different ways with the same truth.
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One person who speaks not the truth will not go without the punishment.
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Do a liar.
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That's the idea that's being given twice in one passage.
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So, too, in Proverbs 18, six, a fool's lips walk into a fight.
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We've talked about that, haven't we? How your mouth can get you in more trouble than anything.
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And it goes on to say, and his mouth invites a beating.
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I love that.
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His lips walk into a fight and his mouth invites a beating.
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It's the same thing being expressed in two different ways.
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And we see that it's called a synonymous parallel.
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Now, we also have what is called the antithetical parallelism, as this one in Proverbs 10.
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One, a wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
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You see, a wise son makes the parents happy, but a foolish son makes the parents sad.
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And you see how it parallels.
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We'll look at another one in Proverbs 12, five.
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The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
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Again, we have this parallel, but it's an antithetical parallel.
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One says the thoughts of the righteous are just.
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The other says the counsels of the wicked are deceitful, but they parallel one another.
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Well, one of the things that is noted in the antithetical parallel, I don't want to dig into this too far because there's a bunch of different types.
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Ask and it shall or knock and the door shall be open to you.
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Seek and you shall find.
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Ask and it shall be open to you.
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That's a that's what we call a synthetic parallelism.
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It's a growth.
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There's all kinds of different parallelisms.
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And we've already seen one in the Lord's Prayer.
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Hallowed be thy name.
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Thy kingdom come.
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Thy will be done.
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It's an expression of a desire for God's program to be in the world as it is in heaven.
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That's a parallelism.
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It's already once seen in the Lord's Prayer.
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But this is more expressive.
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Because this uses what we call the the adversative.
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The adversative conjunction of but.
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You know, when you say, but typically you're saying something opposite, like if somebody walks up to you and you say, you look nice today, but something else is coming.
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And usually at that point, it's not a positive, you know, and we don't want to hear what's on the other side of that.
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But well, on this, the adversative is taking us in a different way of understanding what was said the first way, because the first thing says, lead us not into, but deliver us out of.
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So the adversative is saying, don't send us there, but take us out of there.
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And that's why I don't believe that this is two petitions.
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And I count the petitions of the Lord's model prayer as six, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
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Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us of our trespass, that we forgive those who trespass against us.
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Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil is one petition.
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And it ends up being six total.
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It's only one, but said in two ways, said to express two contrasting ideas about the future.
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And so we're going to look at them both.
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But how do they relate to one another is what we're going to see, because we look first at the phrase, lead us not into temptation.
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The phrase lead us in almost every place where it is translated.
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Other than this, it's translated, bring us or brought to be brought into something.
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To literally be carried, you guys remember when Jesus was baptized, right, and after his baptism, what does the Bible say happened and the spirit led him into the wilderness, wherein he was tempted by the devil for 40 days, that word led him is the same root that is being used here.
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So we are asking lead us not and we add the phrase not we add the word not lead us not into temptation.
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Now, what does that mean? Well, this is where it begins to get a little heavy.
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And if it hasn't been heavy yet, here it comes, because this does require a bit of thought.
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And beloved, you shouldn't be as scared of that.
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You should open yourself up to deeper thinking.
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Be willing to consider the heavy things.
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Because the word temptation here in the Greek parasmon is the Greek word, the word in the Greek.
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Is a neutral word.
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What I mean by neutral is it can have both a positive and a negative connotation depending on the circumstance or the context of the word.
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For instance, Genesis 22 and verse one.
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Wait a minute.
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Genesis was written in Hebrew, it wasn't written in Greek.
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Yes, but there is a Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint and the Greek translation uses parasmon here.
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So I feel like I'm not I'm not stepping out of bounds by expressing this, because this is one of the places where this is argued most.
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Genesis 22 one says what God did test Abraham.
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Right.
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Wait a minute.
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After these things, yeah, God tested Abraham.
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But what does it say in the King James Bible? For those of you who carry your King James Bible, it says God tempted Abraham.
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And that becomes an issue for people, because in the book of James, it says God tempteth no man, neither is he tempted to do evil.
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So is the Bible contradicting itself? No, because that word is a neutral word.
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How is it a neutral word? Well, let me explain it this way with every trial.
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And by the way, that's the way MacArthur likes to translate the word parasmon here is trial.
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He says with every trial comes an opportunity for great blessing.
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And great failure, every trial, every thing that faces us, wherein we have to make a choice to do or not to do, to avoid or to engage, gives us an opportunity for success or failure.
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So the idea is God lead me not into those experiences wherein I will have great failure.
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God does not tempt us to sin.
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The Bible is very clear.
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James 113.
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Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one.
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We've already mentioned that passage.
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But God does test us, beloved.
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God tests us and we are asking him.
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No, we are begging him in this prayer.
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God, do not bring us into a trial that our level of Christian maturity will be unable to handle.
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You're saying, Lord, lead me from those things that I cannot fight.
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Lead me not with Joseph to the room of Potiphar's wife, lead me not with David to the roof with the bathing Bathsheba.
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Lead me not to the courtyard with Peter as they scream for my denial, lead me not anywhere that I would fail you, oh, God, beloved.
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Do you pray that? Do you really ask God? God, keep me out of that.
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Which would lead to my own peril and my own, my own failure.
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And then we say the second part, you say, God, don't lead us into these areas where I will have this this opportunity for failure.
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Don't lead me into these areas where I will fail, but deliver me from evil.
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The word deliver there means to rescue.
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And I think that the way that these contrast one another, remember, this is an antithetical parallelism.
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So there's a contrast happening here.
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I think that the contrast is this.
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We don't always get a positive answer to the first request.
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Sometimes we are in the room of Potiphar's wife, sometimes we are on the roof with the bathing Bathsheba, but sometimes we are in the courtyard with those who yell for our denial.
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What then do we pray? God, deliver us from evil.
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God, take us out.
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Don't let us fail, beloved.
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Evil is an interesting concept here.
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How many of your Bibles, if you don't use the SV, that's fine.
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How many of your Bible say the evil one, one of you? OK, a couple.
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All right.
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That's in some translations.
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And here's an interesting little little Greek side note.
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It can be translated either way.
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It really is one of those times where there's difficulty in translation because it depends on whether you translate the neuter, the masculine.
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If we translate the neuter, it is lead us not or deliver some evil.
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If you translate the masculine, it's the evil one.
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It's depending on how you translate that particular word and phrase.
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And what's interesting about that is those who see it as the evil one, those who have translated as the evil one, I think have limited it further than it was the intent of Christ.
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Because here's what has happened.
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We say, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
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Who is the evil one? Satan, right? It's the devil.
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So it's led to the idea, at least for some, that everything in life is the devil.
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Everything is everything that's bad is the devil.
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And we have this whole idea that we you know, I know people who see the devil behind every tree.
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I've been in churches where it's always about the devil.
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The devil gets more airtime than God and some churches, because it's always about the devil.
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This the devil, that the devil, this the devil, the devil is our enemy.
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The devil is real.
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And he hates you and he hates me.
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But beloved, there are three great enemies of the soul, not just one.
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The three great enemies of the soul are the flesh, the world and the devil.
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And I do not believe that Christ is simply expressing a request for petition to be released from Satan.
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And I believe it's all of that because we live in bodies of flesh and this flesh battles with our spirit, with a desire to do evil.
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And beloved, I know this, when Flip Wilson said the devil made me do it, he was wrong because the devil can't make you do nothing.
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The devil is not sovereign.
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All the devil does is open a door for your flesh to do what it wants to do.
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The devil is not sovereign over you.
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The devil is not the king of hell.
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This Dante's Inferno where Satan has this power over hell.
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Satan is powerful, yes, but he is not sovereign and he has no control over you.
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All he does and can do.
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Is bring to you opportunities for failure, he brings you the forbidden fruit, but you eat it.
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He brings you the dirty magazine, but you read it.
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He brings you the alcohol, but you drink it.
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He brings you the opportunity for sin, but it is your responsibility because he can't force it down your throat.
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He can't force it into your eyes.
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In fact, I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but the Bible tells us that God makes a way of escape.
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And all of these things, and yet we.
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Choose not to take it.
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I am convinced that the evil that is being expressed here is all encompassing.
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And I believe that the flesh, the world and the devil is in view.
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Can it be argued that the devil is the driving force behind all evil? Yes.
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In that sense, can we translate it, deliver us from the evil one? Yes.
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And I wouldn't argue with that.
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But I would say this, it is dangerous when we start ascribing all evil to the devil and we don't take responsibility for our participation.
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That's the problem.
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All these people, it's the devil, this it's the devil that.
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Well, where were you? The devil didn't crawl inside of you and drive down to that area or do whatever was doing.
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You were there.
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You were complicit.
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You were participatory.
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You were there and you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you.
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So how dare you go? But you went.
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How dare you do what you did? Pastor, we're not used to this type of preaching.
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Well, maybe we ought to be more.
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Because holy living is what we have been called to beloved.
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We have not been called simply to revel in our salvation with no intent to live as Christ.
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Paul told us to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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But as long as I live in this flesh, I will live for the son of God.
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That's that's what we're here for.
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So I want to make applications based on our understanding of the text.
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I've given you an exposition of the text.
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And as is my custom, I like to apply it for you now.
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Let me make three applications there.
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They're in your worship folder and I'll give you the fill in the blanks now.
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Because taken together, these two statements offer up a petition for protection.
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God, don't lead us into these areas of failure where we will fail.
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And father, when we're there, bring us out, save us, rescue us, throw us the life ring and pull us from this.
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Don't let us fail.
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Now, what do we do with that? Number one, avoidance of sin is as important as forgiveness of sin.
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Avoidance of sin is as important as forgiveness of sin.
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These two are right next to each other in the prayer.
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Forgive us of our debts as we have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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One deals with the past.
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That's over.
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That's done.
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We can't do anymore.
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You can't go back and change the past.
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You can't change what you did last week, last night or this morning.
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You can't.
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Time doesn't work that way.
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There is no DeLorean.
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There is no flux capacitor.
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For those of you who grew up in the 80s, you know, you can't do that.
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But you've got the forward to look forward to.
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And I was thinking about this this week as I was driving home, was in Ocala and I was driving home and I was looking at this giant windshield.
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I was thinking about this sermon.
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I was thinking about what I wanted to say, and I was looking at my giant windshield, this little rearview mirror.
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And I said, now, there's a there's an illustration.
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I said, because where I've gone and where I'm coming from is not not not anything compared to what's as important as what's in front of me.
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And that's why I've got a giant windshield and a little old rearview mirror.
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Yeah, I need to look back at times.
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And I and what but you know, once I've been forgiven, I need to focus on what's ahead.
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And if you drive with your face in the rearview mirror, you're going to get into a wreck.
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You've got to focus on what's coming.
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You've got to focus what's in front of you.
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And that's what we have to do.
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We've got to start looking at the last week and we say, you know, where did I fail and what can I do to not do that again this week? So that when I come to the table of the Lord, I'm not asking for forgiveness for the very same sin I asked for today.
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So that when I come around the people of God, that I'm not convicted by the same sin that I was convicted for last week.
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Should I not be so concerned with avoiding sin as I am with forgiveness of sin? Ed Welch said this, he said, sin is guerrilla warfare and it is deadly.
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Just when you think you're in control, it seeks to devour you.
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It is deadly and we don't even seem to care much about it.
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Many people justify their sins because they're their favorite sins and they don't seek to avoid them at all.
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But sin is like gunpowder and temptations are the spark which set it ablaze.
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It's a dangerous thing and not to be trifled with, it should be avoided at all costs and avoidance of sin is just as important as forgiveness of sin.
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We got to look to the futures even more so than we look to the past.
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So that's number one.
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Number two, all submission to temptation is ultimately avoidable in the life of the believer.
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Now, let me, you have it, so I don't have to say it again, you can write it down.
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Let me add a caveat so I don't get accused later of being a heretic, because I understand systematic theology and I understand that as in the flesh, we will never be perfect.
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OK, I'm not saying that we will be perfect.
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What I am saying is every act that a Christian commits that is an act of sin is a willful act and we could have chosen to avoid it because we have the Holy Spirit living within us to give us the strength to do that.
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I'm not saying we will.
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I'm saying we could have, but we don't.
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And therein lies the failure.
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You say, Pastor, where do you get that from the Bible? I now want you to look at First Corinthians 10, because this is the passage I alluded to earlier, but I want you to go there.
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First Corinthians 10 and 13.
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Most of you know this and most of you know that it has been interpreted incorrectly many times, because what most people think that this passage means is God will never give you more than you can handle.
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That ain't true.
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God gives everybody more than they can handle so that we'll rely on him.
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So just so you know, that's wrong.
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What this passage does tell you, though, is that no temptation has overtaken you.
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That is not common demand.
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Stop right there.
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That means that the temptations that you face are the same temptations that everyone else faces.
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Don't think that your temptations to do whatever sin it is that you battle with are worse than other people's because they battle their own sins, too.
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The temptation to sin is common to man.
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God is faithful.
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Stop there.
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That's that we can rest on that.
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God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
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Remember what I said earlier about praying for our Christian maturity? God, don't give me something that my level of Christian maturity can't handle.
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That's what our ability.
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But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
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The way of escape is the answer to the question.
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It's not that you won't be faced with great temptations.
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It's not that you won't ever end up in the room of Potiphar's wife.
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It's not that you won't ever be on the rooftop with David and Bathsheba.
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It's not that you won't ever be in the in the in the courtyard with Peter.
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But you have a way of escape.
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Sometimes it's just run.
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Look at Joseph.
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She took his cloak and he took off.
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And that was it.
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And that was the answer.
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Turn off the computer if you can't handle it.
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Put it in the middle of the living room if you can't handle it.
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Don't go to the liquor store.
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If you can't handle it, those are the things that God has given you.
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He has given you a way of escape.
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But you are responsible to take that way of escape.
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You are responsible.
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Romans six one.
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What shall we say? Are we to continue in sin so that grace can abound? May goodnight by no means anyone who has ever said, well, I'm going to continue to sin so that I can continue to sin so that God's grace would just abound is a heretic, for they understand neither their sin nor the grace of God.
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God's forgiveness does not lead to an excuse for sin.
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Ever.
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The problem with modern Christianity is that it doesn't take sin seriously, either before salvation or after.
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We don't tell people that they're sinners before they get saved.
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They get saved because they want to take Jesus into their heart, make their life better, add Jesus as an accessory to an already pretty good life.
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That's why people get saved, because Jesus is an accessory rather than the only salvation for a sinful, wretched soul.
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We don't tell people that.
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And then when they do get saved, we don't talk much about sin after that, either.
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We don't talk about the things that need to do because we don't take sin seriously.
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And yet God takes sin so seriously that he damns men's souls as a result of it.
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Bobby, and I've talked about this before, if we really knew what hell and heaven were like, we'd never, ever want to sin.
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If you could really see a vision of hell and if you could really capture a vision of heaven.
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You'd never, ever want to displease God.
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But yet we do.
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Why? Because we have not a picture of either really in our hearts and our minds.
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Finally, avoidance of sin is important as forgiveness of sin.
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All submission to temptation is ultimately avoidable.
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Number three.
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And finally, that we learn from this, God is our protector from all evil, even that evil, which comes from within us, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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The word evil equates.
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Remember, I said it was a parallel.
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Lead us not equates to deliver us out of that's the equation.
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Evil equates to what temptation.
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Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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Beloved, we are asking God to protect us.
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Yes, from the from the devil.
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Yes, from the world.
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But we're also asking God to protect us from ourselves.
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I said this this week and I'm not saying this is a good interpretation of the text.
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I'm saying it hit me in the heart.
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I said, if there's an evil one I need protection from this me, it's me.
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John MacArthur said about this prayer, he said, this is a prayer of self distrust.
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It is a prayer of self distrust.
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Because I know my capacities for temptation, I know my capacities for evil.
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God, rescue me from me.
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When Martin Luther was at the height of the Reformation.
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There were many trials which he endured and there were certainly temptation to fail all along the way.
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He could have simply given up and given in.
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I mean, Martin Luther at any time could have simply recanted what he had taught and he would have gone right back into the good graces of the church.
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Simply recant what you've taught and come on back at the Diet of Worms.
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He was told, renounce your teachings or face condemnation.
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But he didn't.
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And during his embattled life, Luther not only wrote volumes on theology.
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But Luther also wrote thirty seven hymns.
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And in 1529, when Luther was with his followers.
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Going through a particularly rough patch of opposition with Emperor Charles V, seemingly determined to suppress Lutheranism.
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Luther turned to Psalm 46 and was greatly encouraged by the words of that verse.
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God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble.
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That's a passage I often use in funerals.
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And soon he wrote a song and I want to ask you to do something that we never do.
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Take out your hymnal.
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This is how we're going to end today and then we're going to sing.
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The band's going to lead us in a minute.
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But I want us to first look at the words of this song as we conclude.
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There's a hymnal right there.
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If you want to reach over.
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You may not have if you don't have one, I apologize, but this is a mighty fortress is our God.
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This is the song Ein Feste Berg ist unser Gott in German, which means a very stronghold, a sure stronghold of God is he.
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That is the the literal translation.
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But it was later made into a song in English.
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A mighty fortress is our God.
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It's page 656 in your hymnal, page 656.
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Luther knew that he had a battle.
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He knew he would fight a battle with the devil and he did.
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He knew he would fight a battle with the world and he did.
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And he knew he would fight a battle with his flesh and he did.
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But Luther also knew where his strength would come from, and it was not from within himself, but it was from God.
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And so he wrote a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark, never failing bulwark, means a wall of defense.
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Our helper, he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us.
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His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate on earth is not as equal.
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And then he goes on in verse two.
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Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing? We're not the right man on our side.
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The man of God's own choosing does ask whom that may be.
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Christ Jesus, it is he Lord Sabbath, Lord of hosts is thy name.
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From age to age the same, and he must win the battle.
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Why must he win the battle? Because he is the Lord of hosts.
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That's why he must.
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And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God has willed the truth to triumph through us.
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The prince of darkness, grim, we tremble not for him.
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His rage we can endure for lo, his doom is sure.
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One little word shall fail him.
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What is that word? Jesus Christ shall fail him.
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That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth the spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sided let goods and kindred go.
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This mortal life also the body they may kill God's truth abideth still his kingdom is forever.
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Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
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Stand with us now as we sing and if you have a need for prayer, we would encourage you to come.